#tsayth

I'm well aware this is a nudibranch. I'm not aware what the difference, if any, is between nudibranches, sea cucumber and sea slug. Are sea cucumbers a variety of nudibranch? Is sea slug just another word for sea cucumber? I have no idea, but this is my fantasy world so I do what I want.

Introducing the royal family of Tsayth, the white desert kindom to the south who are mostly a seafaring people due to their land being the most deserty desert to ever desert.

Tsayth is a very practical kingdom. Their monarchs don't take over when their parents die, because they recognise this to be a very vulnerable time in someone's life, and to throw them into leadership of an entire nation at that time isn't practical. Instead, the reigning monarchs select their successor from their children, who take over when they turn 20, while their parents are still alive for them to learn from. They also aren't expected to start having children until they're 30, so they've got a solid decade of experience as well as all the right people around them before they have any distractions.

The fact the parents directly select their decendents mean there's intense competition between the siblings. This is why there are so many of them, because the competition in many instances does lead to death.

In this family, four of the seven siblings had their hats in the ring for the monarchy: Zu, Meng, Tusa and Fei. The twins, Neb and Jira, threw their support behind big brother Zu, while Licha backed Tusa but was easily swayed. Among the siblings, it was clear Zu was the favourite. He was strong, people listened when he spoke, he was uncompromising. Meng is great at boosting morale and keeping everyone under her positive but she's too much of a people-pleaser and doesn't seem like she can make the tough decisions. Tusa is an amazing listener, in that she knows exactly what advice to listen to and what to ignore, she's ruthless when required but excels at getting people on her side--most qualities she kept quiet and hidden while she watched her siblings squabble. Fei is the youngest, the beligerant teenager whose ship once was attacked by pirates and he decided he needed to become king to root out the pirates once and for all.

When big brother Zu turned 20, though, King Weset and Queen Si took him aside, not to tell him he'd be king, but to tell him he wouldn't. This shocked not only him, but all the siblings who had been so convinced he was going to be the one to take the reins. He was supposed to be king! Who could possibly be better among them than Zu?

Tusa, his wife told him, and the twins confirmed it. So the four of them cooked up an assassination plot over the course of the next five years, which they executed when Zu was 25 and Tusa 18.

It didn't go well. They didn't take into account Licha's supporting nature, when he caught wind of the plot and told Tusa. They didn't take into account Tusa's battle training, every bit as ruthless as Neb but more finessed. She killed Zu and maimed Neb, slicing off the thumb, index and half his middle fingers of his right hand and cutting the tendon so badly the remaining fingers wouldn't flex, rendering his dominant hand all but useless.

With all his own skill and training behind him, Neb instantly recognised the skill Tusa had been hiding. She might've killed him, too, but left him alive because that's her style. He may have no use anymore in combat, but Tusa's not about to throw away his military tactics nor his experience in fighting pirates. Physical disabilities, especially from injury and not a birth defect, are pretty much seen as a death knell to the very physically-oriented Tsaythis, so to be allowed not only to live, but to remain in a position of confidence and power, Neb's now got huge respect for his little sister.

The other siblings, too, instantly threw their support behind Tusa, except beligerant teenager Fei, but she's confident she can turn him around. Tusa was crowned queen with her husband Si-an at age 20, and that's pretty much where we stand in the story :D

Absolute hardarse Captain Tu <3 God I loved writing her. This is just how I imagine her, hard as nails and supremely confident in her own power and superiority.

NAME Captain Tu WHO IS THIS PERSON Main character from The Storyteller, childhood friend of Sen. Captain of, like, three ships throughout the story? GENDER Female AGE Deceased, mid-60s from memory?

Drawn from a footballer who very obviously had a mouthguard in so I tried to make that not happen when I was drawing him and now I think his top lip is too pulled in. Oh well. I otherwise like his gritty look.

NAME Jed WHO IS THIS PERSON Thiras' estranged husband GENDER Male AGE 40

Jed and Thiras married when Thiras was 19, after she and her mother joined his crew in the search for a wind witch to teach Thiras. Jed's ship had such a wind witch, meaning it's a pretty snazzy ship, because wind witches can pick and choose where they crew and of course they're going to pick the best. She fell in love with Jed as a teenager, because he's hot, then they got married and had a daughter, Kesi, who you'll meet in a sec.

After nine years of marriage, Thiras told Jed and Kesi she was a bastard, but stopped short of telling them who her father was because she could tell things were going poorly. Jed of course told his captain, and the ship dropped Thiras and her mother at Ni-Badra never to see them again.

Jed regrets this every day, cos Thiras is frigging awesome and to abandon her just cos she was a bastard… yeah, he regrets it, but he's not man enough to look for her and try and repair things. It wouldn't take much to track her down--she was in Ni-Badra for a couple of years, and has been in Ryas for the last five years, and she doesn't make a point of hiding, but nope. Can't do it.He'll still keep wearing his short bandana and show hair in her memory, tho.

Head tilted back and a toothy grin? Why would I do this to myself? She came out all right, though, I think. Jaw a bit wonky but I'm happy with her eyes and mouth. I was debating whether to draw Kesi as the teenager she is, or the 7-year-old Thiras left behind. Just in case I do anything with either of these two, tho, I decided to draw her currently.

NAME Kesi WHO IS THIS PERSON Thiras' estranged daughter GENDER Female AGE 17

Kesi thought her mum was the absolute coolest when she was a kid, emulating her with her sense of style (as much as Tsaythis have style) by growing her hair into dreadlocks. Thiras did a good job of teaching her being a bastard doesn't change people at all, so Kesi was always kind to those on-shore but cultural bias is hard to shake and she still felt like they were inferior. When Thiras spilled the beans and admitted to Jed and Kesi that she was a bastard herself, Kesi didn't understand why her mum--and her Nanna--had to leave the ship.

There, now they have armour :D This is bronze plate held together with chain, as seen on Philippino armour. This would be a pretty standard set for like a reasonable merchant ship. One doing less well might have the armour end with the chest plates and have the stomach uncovered, while a more profitable ship might have chain and plates down over the thighs. Those who do extensive business with Raykin might even get their hands on iron, though even Raykin hasn't yet figured out how to effectively do chain with iron (haven't fully nutted out steel, it kind of just happens by accident at this stage). The sword is just a 90cm-ish straight bronze blade as inspired by the extremely basic things the Vikings used to use, only without any of the ornamentation and carvings.

The easiest and quickest of the kingdom clothing designs because it's just barely designed. Tsaythis are extremely practical people who don't care for frivolities. Especially on a ship, where everyone knows everyone, personal expression with clothing is just not worth it to them. Comfort over style always. On ships, which is where the overwhelming majority of the population lives, they wear pants, probably no sleeves and relatively close-fitting clothes so they don't get tangled in ropes or caught in anything. On land, skirts and dresses are a bit more of a thing but only if they don't impede movement (ie nothing longer than, like, knee-length and nothing too tight, either). They'll also always wear their bandanas very short-cropped hair as sun protection. For the most part, they'll avoid places where it's so cold they have to rug up, because again there's too much chance of your layers getting caught in the rigging, but sometimes it's unavoidable so they'll just chuck on as many layers as needed. Mostly they'll spend winter in the warmer waters of Raykin and north of there, then go back down into Tsaythi waters in summer.

For the most part, no footwear, except when on shore in a foreign country, where they'll slip on some sandals.

Their clothing is made of roughspun fabric made from sea grass and dune grass, which is spun just soft enough to be comfortable but it's not luxurious at all. Better than hessian, not as nice as calico.

I had the idea of a saltwater amphibian, because that's not a thing that exists in the real world. Why not? Because they breathe through their skin so they need to have pure water. Means when you have frogs in your watercourse, it's really clean water. For a saltwater froggie, then, it's going to need to get the salt out, and so, crystal frog!